I Come From the Abyss to Save Humanity Today V1C12

     

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12. The Pleasure of the Body, The Rejection of the Heart

Grandma Claire told the siblings about her encounter with me in the morning.

"...and that's how it is, little Sil will now be a member of our family. Both of you are older than her, so you should let her have her way and take care of her... Barry, did you hear me? You better not bully her!"

"...I wouldn't!" Barry sneaked a glance at me and then loudly protested as if to cover something up.

"Sil, are you a child from a noble family?"

Aria's eyes widened, the eighteen-year-old village girl was very simple-minded. She hadn't received much education and didn't have many twists and turns in her heart; she was the type to speak whatever was on her mind.

"I... am not."

"I don't believe you, tell me!"

"Aria! Shut your mouth and eat your food."

"What's wrong, Grandma? Can't I even ask... Why is it sweet potatoes again! Grandma, didn't you say you would take out the venison to eat tonight, why haven't I seen it! Did you secretly give it all to Barry to eat! Grandma, you're biased, you know I've been looking forward to it for days."

"The venison was given to Sil to eat. Tomorrow when your Uncle Doyle comes back from hunting, I'll cut some more from him."

"Sorry... I... was... too hungry..."

"Ah... it's not like that, Sil! I was just afraid that Barry would sneak some, if you ate it then it's okay, after all... you're so cute, hehe." Aria fluttered her eyelashes, ignoring Barry who was muttering something on the side, and continued to speak to me, "Sil, will you come with me to gather herbs in the forest tomorrow?"

"...Gather herbs?"

"Yes, gather herbs. There are so many fun things in the forest! I'll take you—"

"Aria, why are you so lively today? Sil shouldn't go anywhere tomorrow, she should rest well for a couple of days. Barry, you go with your sister tomorrow."

"...Okay." Barry answered in a muffled voice.

"Barry... what's wrong with you today, you look so gloomy." Grandma Claire touched Barry's forehead with some confusion, "Are you feeling unwell?"

"No... I just think Aria is too childish, I don't want to talk to her."

"Barry! You dare say I'm childish!"

"How are you not childish! Always shouting and screaming, that's not how a sister should act."

"You... watch me tear your mouth apart!"

"You two! Be careful not to knock over the dishes, what kind of way is this to eat a meal!"

"Giggle."

"Look, Sil is laughing at you two."

............

I slept with Grandma Claire that night.

Grandma told me a lot of things, about how she once had a son, who was Aria and Barry's father, a knight of the Holy Church's Seventh Knight Order. Her son had always been her pride, married the prettiest girl in the village, but unfortunately fell in a large-scale bandit suppression operation organized by the Church a few years ago. The siblings' mother had died from heavy bleeding when giving birth to Barry, so it was just Grandma Claire and the siblings left to rely on each other.

When her son died, Barry and Aria were still snotty kids, and Grandma raised them alone through hardships. Fortunately, since her son died in the line of duty, the Church sent a considerable amount of pension. The villagers were also very warm-hearted, always ready to lend a hand when needed, and somehow they managed to get by. Now that Barry was sixteen, he was almost an adult, and many things at home depended on him.

Grandma said she was getting old and her body was not as good as before. She would be ready to close her eyes for good once she saw Barry get married...

Grandma's rambling homely talk became a sense of peace I hadn't felt in a long time, and I gradually fell asleep.

............

The Claire family took in a child as beautiful as a goddess.

This news quickly spread throughout the village.

Entertainment was scarce in this era. Such an event was a significant curiosity for the village. My appearance was indeed too conspicuous, and I would be recognized wherever I went.

"Ah, that's the little girl from Claire's house... tsk tsk tsk, she's really beautiful."

People would point and whisper about me like this.

As a result, Grandma's house had many visitors during this time. Some came specifically to see my true face, some came to inquire about my background, and just a couple of days ago, someone even brought their son specifically to meet me.

He was a skinny, dark-skinned boy with a naive look, who just kept staring at me with a silly grin, making me feel uneasy.

Eventually, Grandma got fed up and shooed them away with a mix of pushing and persuading.

What troubled me the most was that recently, whenever I went out alone, there would always be a group of rambunctious kids following me. The oldest looked about eighteen or nineteen, and the youngest was even bare-bottomed. They did nothing but circle around me whenever they saw me, as if I were a monkey in a zoo.

A few times, their gawking drove me to such irritation that I picked up stones from the roadside and threw them into the crowd. The kids would scatter, laughing uproariously, only to gather around me again as soon as I turned my back.

Eventually, overwhelmed by annoyance, I confided in Aria during a casual conversation.

Aria tried to suppress her laughter after hearing my complaint. She told me that the oldest boy, named Ryan, was the village's ringleader of the children, always loafing around and leading a pack of little ones on various escapades. Their behavior was likely an attempt to get my attention. The more embarrassed and angry I became, the more amusement they found in it. She had been teased by them before, but assured me there was no malice in their actions.

Truly... their childishness was infuriating. They were old enough to be using such tactics to attract a girl's attention, their skills in wooing were even worse than the little boy who lived next door to me, who, despite only being in kindergarten, knew how to bribe a girl in the next class with snacks for a kiss.

So, from then on, whenever I saw that group of wild kids, I ignored everything they did or said around me.

............

The leisurely days seemed as if they could continue forever.

That day, I woke up early, planning to go to the forest to gather some herbs.

The village had a monthly routine where a caravan would come to buy herbs or vegetables, which was one of the few sources of income for the village.

The currency in this world was nothing special, with copper, silver, and gold coins in the cliché ratio of 10000:100:1. However, villagers mostly used copper coins or salt for trading, and to this day, I had not even seen a silver coin, let alone a gold one.

I set out with Aria, carrying a small bamboo basket, heading towards the forest.

The road to the forest was the same muddy path I had taken when I arrived at the village. The forest was rich in resources, and villagers would go there to hunt or gather herbs like we were doing, but they generally only stayed around the edges and seldom dared to venture deep inside.

"Sil, I'll tell you, there's a dragon god in this forest."

"A dragon god?"

"Yes, a huge white dragon. It's amazing, isn't it? To think that dragons really exist in this world!"

...Shouldn't I be the one saying that? Are dragons considered legendary beings even in this magical world?

"Aria, have you seen it?"

"No... I heard it from Allen, his father is the most skilled hunter in the village, daring to go deep into the forest alone. He said his father once saw it."

Allen, whom Aria mentioned, was her sweetheart, a sturdy boy two years her senior, and they were about to get married.

"What does the dragon god look like?"

"Well... not very clear, it seems his father only caught a glimpse from afar. It's said to have huge antlers on its head, covered in white fur, and can turn into a beam of light and fly into the sky..." Aria herself seemed puzzled as she spoke, "Sil, aren't dragons supposed to have scales?"

"I don't know much about these things."

"Hmm... I can't imagine what a dragon with white fur would look like. But it must look super strong and majestic!"

Well, I don't know what kind of dragon god you've conjured up in your mind, but it might be a bit different from reality.

That dragon not only had white fur but also had bad breath.

...I wonder what Big White is doing now. I kind of miss it.

"Last year, an uncle who lives on the west side of the village got lost in the forest. After sleeping for a night, he woke up to find himself outside the forest again. Isn't that amazing? It must be the dragon god watching over us."

"..."

Yeah, you're probably not wrong in your understanding.

"There's another strange thing. Before you came to the village, there was a time when many monks and knights from the Church came. They said that a terrible monster appeared on the other side of the forest and took us to the neighboring town for refuge. When you arrived in the village, we had just returned not two days prior," Aria said, her eyes sparkling with excitement, "The knights from the Church were all so tall and mighty, so handsome! My father was a knight of the Church!"

Do you only know how to praise people by saying they're tall and mighty?

"Grandma must have told you, my father was killed by bandits... But the monks said that before he died, he took down more than a dozen villains by himself!"

"Aren't you sad?"

"Why should I be sad? My father was a knight of the Church, a hero who died protecting the people!" The girl's words were filled with pride, "But... sometimes I still dream of him patting my head, hehe."

"..."

Heroes who protect the people, huh?

Quite an admirable person.

............

When we reached the entrance to the forest, Aria and I had to split up. This way, we could gather more herbs, and when the traders came in a few days, we could sell more for copper coins.

"Don't wander off too far," Aria reminded me before leaving, and I nodded in response.

In truth, Aria had already brought me here many times before, and I had memorized the routes so well that getting lost was impossible.

But she would still remind me every time, a little worried.

We were looking for a root called glycyrrhiza, a medicinal herb with excellent healing properties.

Finding things like this was not difficult for someone with senses as sharp as mine. In an hour, I could gather a full basket's worth.

My main purpose for coming here, though, was to address another issue.

My hunger.

This was something I discovered not long ago while training with the Abyssal Force, also known as the black smoke, in the forest. It was the reason why I always felt hungry. It wasn't because I hadn't eaten enough, but because the Abyssal Force within me urgently needed to absorb energy.

It needed to devour living creatures to maintain its vitality and not "die."

So every few days, when that strange hunger struck, I would come to the forest.

Rustle, rustle, rustle...

Not far away, an animal that looked somewhat like a rabbit, but with four ears, appeared in my line of sight. My gaze sharpened, and a fist-sized ball of black smoke shot out with a "whoosh," and the pale white light was absorbed into my body.

A tingling sensation spread throughout me, and I involuntarily clenched my legs together, feeling the hunger slowly fade away.

Yes, just like that, I was drawing energy for the Abyssal Force.

I had never tried to see what would happen if I reached the extreme of hunger, nor had I ever wanted to try. It would surely lead to something quite unpleasant.

So I'm sorry, little rabbit.

This feeling, as if devouring the soul of another, always made me uncomfortable. At these moments, I would deeply acknowledge the fact that I was a monster.

The pleasure of the body, the rejection of the heart.

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